Appointment(s)
Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Programme director, Human Potential Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Executive director, Singapore Institue for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
Degree(s)
Medical degree and specialist qualifications (internal medicine and general practice) from the University of Helsinki.
Biography
Professor Johan Eriksson is the Human Potential Translational Research Programme Director at the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and Executive Director, Institute for Human development and Potential (IHDP), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). He is in charge of the daily scientific oversight and planning of the GUSTO and S-PRESTO cohort studies.
Before moving to Singapore, Professor Eriksson was a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, and Chief Physician at Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland. With a clinical interest in diabetes, obesity, and related metabolic diseases, Professor Johan Eriksson has established himself as a prominent Diabetes Researcher and Metabolic Diseases Researcher. He received his medical degree and specialist qualifications (internal medicine and general practice) from the University of Helsinki.
Professor Eriksson’s research focuses on the early programming of health and disease, as well as on the prevention of gestational diabetes (GDM), type 2 diabetes and related metabolic outcomes by lifestyle interventions. In Finland he is in charge of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, a unique birth cohort study with a follow-up of over 20,000 individuals from birth until the age of over 80 years. Furthermore, as a distinguished diabetes researcher, he has been involved in the gestational diabetes prevention study RADIEL, in which a lifestyle intervention was shown to successfully reduce GDM and the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS) – the first randomised study to show that lifestyle intervention is effective in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.
In 2018, he was recognised as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, ranking in the top 1% by citations for a field. Additionally, he was listed among the top 2% of most-cited scientists in the 2023 and 2024 ranking by Stanford University.
In 2023, he ranked 1st in Singapore among the World’s Top Scientists in the area of medicine and 5th in Singapore among the World’s Top Scientists in the area of science. In 2021 he was awarded the J.W. Runeberg Prize, the most prestigious prize awarded by the Finnish Medical Association for scientific research for his pioneering research on the importance of early life risk factors for health and disease.
He has co-authored several books and published over 100 original research articles. His h-index is 161.
Early Metabolic Defects in Persons at Increased Risk for Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus
Eriksson J, Franssila-Kallunki A, Ekstrand A, Saloranta C, Widén E, Schalin C, Groop L.
Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance.
Tuomilehto J, Lindström J, Eriksson JG, Valle TT, Hämäläinen H, Ilanne-Parikka P, Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi S, Laakso M, Louheranta A, Rastas M, Salminen V, Uusitupa M.
Sustained reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle intervention:: follow-up of the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study
Lindström J, Ilanne-Parikka P, Peltonen M, Aunola S, Eriksson JG, Hemiö K, Hämäläinen H, Härkönen P, Keinänen-Kiukaanniemi S, Laakso M, Louheranta A, Mannelin M, Paturi M, Sundvall J, Valle TT, Uusitupa M, Tuomilehto J;
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Can Be Prevented by Lifestyle Intervention: The Finnish Gestational Diabetes Prevention Study (RADIEL) A Randomized Controlled Trial
Koivusalo SB, Rönö K, Klemetti MM, Roine RP, Lindström J, Erkkola M, Kaaja RJ, Pöyhönen-Alho M, Tiitinen A, Huvinen E, Andersson S, Laivuori H, Valkama A, Meinilä J, Kautiainen H, Eriksson JG, Stach-Lempinen B.
Catch-up growth in childhood and death from coronary heart disease:: longitudinal study
Eriksson JG, Forsén T, Tuomilehto J, Winter PD, Osmond C, Barker DJ.
Early growth and coronary heart disease in later life:: longitudinal study
Eriksson JG, Forsén T, Tuomilehto J, Osmond C, Barker DJ.
Fetal origins of adult disease:: strength of effects and biological basis
Barker DJ, Eriksson JG, Forsén T, Osmond C.
Size at birth and resilience to effects of poor living conditions in adult life:: longitudinal study
Barker DJ, Forsén T, Uutela A, Osmond C, Eriksson JG.
Trajectories of growth among children who have coronary events as adults
Barker DJ, Osmond C, Forsén TJ, Kajantie E, Eriksson JG.
Analyses of child cardiometabolic phenotype following assisted reproductive technologies using a pragmatic trial emulation approach
Huang JY, Cai S, Huang Z, Tint MT, Yuan WL, Aris IM, Godfrey KM, Karnani N, Lee YS, Chan JKY, Chong YS, Eriksson JG, Chan SY.
Brown Adipose Tissue, Adiposity, and Metabolic Profile in Preschool Children
Tint MT, Michael N, Sadananthan SA, Huang JY, Khoo CM, Godfrey KM, Shek LP, Lek N, Tan KH, Yap F, Velan SS, Gluckman PD, Chong YS, Karnani N, Chan SY, Leow MK, Lee KJ, Lee YS, Hu HH, Zhang C, Fortier MV, Eriksson JG.
Cardiometabolic Profile of Different Body Composition Phenotypes in Children
Ong YY, Huang JY, Michael N, Sadananthan SA, Yuan WL, Chen LW, Karnani N, Velan SS, Fortier MV, Tan KH, Gluckman PD, Yap F, Chong YS, Godfrey KM, Chong MF, Chan SY, Lee YS, Tint MT, Eriksson JG.
Sphingolipids accumulate in aged muscle, and their reduction counteracts sarcopenia
Laurila PP, Wohlwend M, Imamura de Lima T, Luan P, Herzig S, Zanou N, Crisol B, Bou-Sleiman M, Porcu E, Gallart-Ayala H, Handzlik MK, Wang Q, Jain S, D'Amico D, Salonen M, Metallo CM, Kutalik Z, Eichmann TO, Place N, Ivanisevic J, Lahti J, Eriksson JG, Auwerx J.
COX7A2L genetic variants determine cardiorespiratory fitness in mice and human
Benegiamo G, Bou Sleiman M, Wohlwend M, Rodríguez-López S, Goeminne LJE, Laurila PP, Klevjer M, Salonen MK, Lahti J, Jha P, Cogliati S, Enriquez JA, Brumpton BM, Bye A, Eriksson JG, Auwerx J.
Higher pulse wave velocity in young adult offspring of mothers with type 1 diabetes: a case-control study
Korpijaakko CA, Eriksson MD, Wasenius NS, Klemetti MM, Teramo K, Kautiainen H, Eriksson JG, Laine MK.
Association of plasma kynurenine pathway metabolite concentrations with metabolic health risk in prepubertal Asian children
Tan KM, Tint MT, Kothandaraman N, Yap F, Godfrey KM, Lee YS, Tan KH, Gluckman PD, Chong YS, Chong MFF, Eriksson JG, Cameron-Smith D.
Frailty in Late Midlife to Old Age and Its Relationship to Medical Imaging Use and Imaging-related Costs: A Longitudinal Study
Arponen O, Ikonen JN, Kajantie E, Eriksson JG, Haapanen MJ.
Allostatic load in children: The cost of empathic concern
Phua DY, Chen H, Yap F, Chong YS, Gluckman PD, Broekman BFP, Eriksson JG, Meaney MJ.
Healthy ageing from birth to age 84 years in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, Finland: a longitudinal study
Mikkola TM, Kautiainen H, von Bonsdorff MB, Wasenius NS, Salonen MK, Haapanen MJ, Kajantie E, Eriksson JG.
Longitudinal characterization of determinants associated with obesogenic growth patterns in early childhood
Michael N, Gupta V, Fogel A, Huang J, Chen L, Sadananthan SA, Ong YY, Aris IM, Pang WW, Yuan WL, Loy SL, Thway Tint M, Tan KH, Chan JK, Chan SY, Shek LP, Yap F, Godfrey K, Chong YS, Gluckman P, Velan SS, Forde CG, Lee YS, Eriksson JG, Karnani N.
The brain insulin receptor gene network and associations with frailty index
Selenius JS, Silveira PP, Haapanen MJ, von Bonsdorff M, Lahti J, Eriksson JG, Wasenius NS.
Programming of cardiac metabolism by miR-15b-5p, a miRNA released in cardiac extracellular vesicles following ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Pantaleão LC, Loche E, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Dearden L, Córdova-Casanova A, Osmond C, Salonen MK, Kajantie E, Niu Y, de Almeida-Faria J, Thackray BD, Mikkola TM, Giussani DA, Murray AJ, Bushell M, Eriksson JG, Ozanne SE.
Early growth, stress, and socioeconomic factors as predictors of the rate of multimorbidity accumulation across the life course: a longitudinal birth cohort study
Haapanen MJ, Vetrano DL, Mikkola TM, Calderón-Larrañaga A, Dekhtyar S, Kajantie E, Eriksson JG, von Bonsdorff MB.
Effect of an Asian-adapted Mediterranean diet and pentadecanoic acid on fatty liver disease: the TANGO randomized controlled trial
Chooi YC, Zhang QA, Magkos F, Ng M, Michael N, Wu X, Volchanskaya VSB, Lai X, Wanjaya ER, Elejalde U, Goh CC, Yap CPL, Wong LH, Lim KJ, Velan SS, Yaligar J, Muthiah MD, Chong YS, Loo EXL, Eriksson JG;
